


Con Gone Right, Grift Gone Wrong

by WriterofGotham



Category: Leverage
Genre: Eliot dies for reals, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I killed Eliot, I made my beta cry reading this, I'm not sorry, Parker Being Parker (Leverage), Protective Eliot Spencer, con gone right, mentions of parkers brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-01 00:22:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11474703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterofGotham/pseuds/WriterofGotham
Summary: The con was so easy.They had all laughed about it.When it was over nobody was laughing anymore.





	1. Chapter 1

Sophie was a duchess, well at least that was her alias. Eliot was masquerading as her body-guard. It was such an easy con, they had laughed about it. They had taken the money from the mark, he didn't even realize it. Nate was upset he couldn't gloat, and was staying at the office listening on comms with a scotch in his hand. They all had appreciated an easy con for once they had planned for everything.

What they didn't expect was a man to recognize Sophie. She had grifted him years ago it had taken her a minute to even place the man a, Mr. Wayne Peirce.

Peirce was livid. "You... you liar you stole a Monet from me!" He stuttered. Eliot stepped in and tried to calm the man down. He had already called over a guard, when the guard came over Peirce took the gun from the guard and pointed at Sophie.

Eliot reacted.

Wayne Peirce didn't expect Eliot to jump in front and try to take the gun from him. In the short fight, if you could even call it that, a gunshot echoed through the marble halls.

The guard drug the man off Eliot and away from Sophie. He was still shouting at her as the guard restrained him.

Sophie dropped down to Eliot he had fallen to the floor. She looked and saw that blood was blossoming red on his shirt. She cringed as he started to cough up blood. She tried to slow the bleeding, by taking off her scarf and pressed it down on the wound in his chest. "You'll be alright. I'm sure you've had worse." She looked up at the people gather around the scene, "Someone call an ambulance! Don't just stare."

Blood bubbled at his mouth as he tried to speak. "It hit… a lung… very… distinct." After a pain filled breath he spoke again it was getting harder to say anything, but he managed to say, "Look... out for... them."

"Don't try to speak. You'll be fine, I know you hate hospitals, but it will just be a little trip." Sophie promised as she tried to keep tears from rolling down her face. She doubted it would be a quick trip. 

"Promise me." Eliot choked out painfully.

"I promise I'll look out for them. You have to promise you'll be okay." Sophie whispered as she tried to keep pressure on the gunshot wound.

"I don't... make promises... I can't... keep." Eliot said so weakly Sophie had to lean in to hear it.

This had been an easy con. Eliot didn't even have to punch anyone. This wasn't supposed to happen.

When the ambulance did arrive they had to drag her away from Eliot's corpse. They arrived too late. Sophie the best grifter in the world couldn't hide what she was feeling. She was crying as the EMTs removed her from Eliot. She was still holding the scarf soaked with Eliot's blood. The designer dress she was wearing was ruined, it too had been stained with Eliot's blood.

On the comms when Parker heard the gunshot. For some reason she started to remember her brother playing on his bike. It had been perfect day, she had watched him ride his bike feeling so proud he was so small and could ride it so well. Better than the real kids could. She didn't see the car coming until it was already gone. She was the first to see her little brother all broken and bloody. Things had been different after that, she stopped feeling things after that day. Eliot had just taught how to feel again. She rushed out of the air ducts as fast as she could just in time to see Sophie coated in blood and yelling at the EMT's. Her eyes fell on Eliot prone body. The EMTs were pulling a sheet over him.

She realized why Sophie was yelling.

Eliot was dead.

She wanted this to be a bad dream. To wake up and find that Eliot, Sophie, Hardinson, and Nate were all okay.

She just found her family. Eliot was invincible. He wasn't supposed to die. Parker tried to brush away the tears that were spilling down her face.

Hardison was in Lucille waiting to pick up Sophie and Eliot, he was laughing at the mark. He was stupider than most. He heard the gunshot over the comms and when he pulled up the security footage. Two liters of orange soda was dropped in Lucille.

He put in the call to the hospital. He got good medical insurance for Eliot's alias, Arron Tennet. He was still watching the footage when he saw the EMTs pull Sophie away and put a blanket over Eliot. That wasn't supposed to happen. Eliot never went down. The only fight he ever lost was to a carnival ride. Eliot wasn't supposed to die. Bullets didn't faze him, this is Eliot he could walk it off.

Eliot really was dead no matter how tough or good a fighter, you can't walk off being dead. Hardinson walked inside the building. Parker came and clung to him, he clung right back. The EMTs lifted him into the ambulance and told Sophie which morgue they were taking him to.

All of them hated it. Eliot couldn't be going to the morgue, he never got hurt let alone...die.

Nate was at the office when he heard the gunshot. His first thought was Sophie, until he heard her say, "You'll be alright. I'm sure you've had worse. Someone call an ambulance! Don't just stare."

He heard Eliot's shallow breathing and felt guilty for being worried about Sophie. Eliot would always protect the team. He rushed to the car and started to drive to the corporation's headquarters. He knew Eliot would be fine, even as he heard Eliot choke out a few words. Nate didn't doubt that the EMTs would come in time, until he heard an EMT tell Sophie that he was gone. 

It was supposed to be an easy con.


	2. Chapter 2

It seemed fitting, the day that Eliot was buried it poured down rain. The whole team escorted his body back to Oklahoma. A preacher said some words that later no one would remember. The wind whipped and the rain fell dismally. The team had contacted Eliot's buddies and Tara, they had all promised not to come. They didn't think Eliot would have wanted them near his real family. They had understood a few of his hitter friends had even sent flowers, Tara sent a plotted mini rose without thorns.

The only people attending the funeral were his sister Savannah and her husband, Michael and their son, Steve.

They found a box in his house that had everything taken care of. He was to be buried in the Spencer family cemetery, if there was a body. He had a whole list of what he wanted if there was no body, or if he was missing for longer than six months. Down to what he wanted on his grave stone.

His instructions had said to put, Eliot Spencer, year that he was born and date of death. They decided to add a little to it. Sophie and Hardison decided to put, "Eliot Spencer a good man and friend." It was simple and nothing that wasn't true.

After the funeral Savannah and Michael invited them to their home. It was a small home with a large yard and a dog in the yard. It looked straight out of a book or movie.

"How did you know Eliot?" Savannah asked Sophie, after the funeral. They were sitting down in the living room.

"Did you know what he did for a living?" Sophie asked before replying.

"Something that paid well, my son always knew around his birthday to expect a large gift from his favorite Uncle. He never would tell me. Just growl and saw it was better that I didn't know." Savannah replied honestly.

"That sounds like Eliot. I think he practiced growling and scary eyes." Hardison commented.

"He didn't think any boy was good enough for me. I got my first date the week he was shipped off to Basic. That was probably the last time I saw him and he wasn't hiding anything from me. What did he do?" Savannah asked with a smile of the memory of half the boys in the town scared of her brother.

"He was in the Army for a while, before finding other work. We started working together almost five years ago. We help people who have been wronged in some way. We get justice for them. We were all in different lines of work before forming a team. I used to grift people for my personal gain, Hardison was a hacker who did pretty much anything, Parker is the best thief in the world, and Nate was an Insurance Investigator." Sophie explained.

"Where did Eliot fit in?" Savannah asked.

"He's what's known as a Hitter, he provided protection for all of us. He saved all of our lives many times over. He died... protecting me." Sophie said as she blinked back tears at the painful memories of Eliot death.

"That's why he had so much money." Savannah said flatly. "I knew it couldn't be anything good, I always hoped it would be good not…a killer or body guard."

"He had a college fund all set for Steven. In his will he left you and your husband some money. He pretty much left all his money to you all and a lot of charities. Food banks and Fallen Soldier Family's relief funds." Hardinson said trying to make it seem like it wasn't as bad as it sounded.

"I anonymously got all of my collage paid for, he always looked out for me even if he wasn't there. Was he happy?" Savannah asked changing the subject.

"I think so. He helped a lot of people, changed their lives for the better. There was a girl Molly, she was kidnapped and he got her back safely. She was scared and he was able to calm her down and got her to her father. Corporal Robert Perry, we helped him get the medical care he needed, because of us a lot of soldiers got the care they needed. That's just two, I think that he liked doing good." Nate finished.

Parker spoke up, "He didn't just help strangers he helped all of us. Even if it was understanding food."

"I'm glad that he had helped people. It sounds like he was happy. I wish I could have talked to him one last time." Savannah replied. "The last few years I might get a call once a year or a post card with his initials."

"He wrote a letter for you." Parker said as she pulled it out of her pocket. She had read the letter he had written her at least a hundred times. She left it with Bunny at the Brew Pub not wanting to risk losing in the trip to Oklahoma. Parker had cried when she read it, he told her to not stop feeling to keep doing what she loved, not to lose the feeling and rush of stealing.

"Thank you." Savannah said simply.

The trip back to Portland was long. Parker understood the Doctor at the Brew Pub. Food didn't taste right, it didn't taste like Eliot made it. They sat down at an Olive Garden on the way back to Portland, and when the food arrived Parker took one bite and started to cry. The garlic bread and soup wasn't like what Eliot cooked. Hardison wanted to know why she was crying, when he heard it made all of them tear up.

They had a long talk in the Brew Pub when they got home. In all the letters Eliot had written he told them to stay together, and keep helping people. He'd left contact information for two Hitters he trusted to take his place on the team.

"We can't replace Eliot." Parker said as she sat cross legged on the bar.

"We can't do it without a hitter. What happens when one of us gets made?" Nate asked.

"I'll fight them. You can't replace family." Parker insisted.

"Babe, you can't fight them. Tara took the part of grifter while Sophie took some time off. It didn't mean that Sophie wasn't apart anymore." Hardison exclaimed.

"Sophie didn't die. It's different." Parker said emphatically.

"It is different. He died saving me. Peirce is in prison we can't even make him pay." Sophie said angry.

"Quitting isn't what Eliot wanted." Hardison said even though he understood exactly what Parker was meaning.

"I won't like the replacement, but I'll try not tase him." Parker said. "Why do people have to die?"

"I don't know. Nana told me once that people die and it breaks your heart, but you'll see them again." Hardison said.

"I always though Eliot was bullet resistant he got hit by a car and he beat up guys, he got drugged and it just made him angry. Feeling things suck so bad, I understand why Nate's an alcoholic." Parker muttered.

Nate swirled the scotch in his glass. "We won't be staying in Portland. I've been it would be good to move to somewhere else, with less memories."

LINEBREAK

A year later they still were running cons, Nate and Sophie decided that life was too short and they got married. Sophie whispered her name to Nate the night she became Mrs. Ford. Parker and Hardison got married a month after they honeymooned in all of Parker's favorite places. She showed Hardinson all the museums she had stolen from, pointing out all the week spots they hadn't fixed.

The hitter they hired worked with them, but not as closely as Eliot had, he worked for money. Loyalty to Leverage Inc. was bought, it wasn't the same in any way. They helped people and did what they could for people who couldn't help themselves. Cases with veterans seemed to appear more often they always seemed to give those first priority.

They even started to trained others, grifters, thieves, hackers, and hitters Leverage Inc. started to grow as the years drug on Sophie and Nate retired to travel the world. Parker and Hardison believe it not, settled in an old house with tall ceiling that Parker loved so well. At sixty years old she reflected on her life. It had been good, her and Hardison had never been able to have children so they adopted from the same system they had been in. Their children now were doing the job that they had done for years. She and Hardison had a trip coming up soon, every year on the anniversary of Eliot's death they traveled to Oklahoma. It was unspoken, when they reached the Spencer family graveyard Sophie and Nate were already there. Sophie had laid a large bouquet of flowers on his grave. The older they got the more they were reminded that he wasn't that old when he died. He'd have loved to see all the kids that he would have been an uncle to.

Parker laid the flag she picked up on the way over and said, "We'll see Sparky again. I'm surprised at how long we've lasted."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't why exactly I wrote Savannah but, I wanted to show that Eliot did have blood family.
> 
> I was going to leave it, but decided to add some more.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a story where Eliot died, I don't why.  
> Don't own Leverage.


End file.
